"Come on, Daisy," Nina says as she drags me into the house where the party is.

This is the house of no ordinary person. Every cell in my body screams I shouldn't be here. But Nina wouldn't leave me alone, and I'm a little curious.

Cutting through the air filled with the smell of alcohol and sweat, Nina takes me to a group of girls that can stand out in any crowd.

The "queen bees," as the lingo says, are the popular, hot girls I went to school with. One downside — or upside, depending on how you look at it — of going to a college in the packland is you will continue to study with the kids from your high school and stay tied to the same social circle.

Except if you had a makeover, which is what Nina seems to have had I'm afraid.

The most popular of them all, Bianca, says to me, "Daisy. How are you?"

I guess the perks of being the daughter of the Beta is still in tact. "I'm good. How are you guys?" I say.

I churn past the pleasantry and continue to passively hear them talk. We've nothing in common. Never had. But Nina sure fits in with them now. What have they done to her?

Sipping on my beer, I look around. It's like time hadn't passed at all. Everyone from my school is here, just like in the past.

"Seriously, when are you and Cole going to make it official?" a girl asks Bianca.

The beer is suddenly hard to swallow. But I manage to before looking at Bianca. "As soon he ascends as the Alpha," she proudly says.

"Hail to our future Luna," another girl says. Everyone, except me, laughs. "I'm going to get some water," I whisper to Nina and slip away.

I go to the kitchen, fill a glass with water and gulp it down. A group of boys come in. I see my brother first. He has his hand wrapped around a blonde girl.

Then, right next to Rick, I see Cole.

No one pays me any attention and go for the cold beer case on the kitchen counter. Grabbing a bottle each, they spread, leaning against the counters and cabinets.

"What are you doing here?" Rick asks me while still keeping his gaze on the blonde girl glued to him.

I wave the empty glass in my hand. He looks at me. "You came here with Nina?" he asks.

I nod.

"I told you to stay away from her, didn't I?"

I want to snap at him, and I would've if it were just us two at our home. Here, he's the Beta of our pack. So I hesitate.

But before I could decide on how to respond, Perry comes in. I immediately feel awkward.

Any guy would be lucky to have Perry as his mate but she's unlucky enough to be my brother's mate. Rick has always been a playboy and he didn't stop being one even after he found his mate.

"I don't want to be tied down yet," I heard him once say.

Perry is a beautiful and smart girl. That's why I never understood why Rick didn't settle with her right away and why she would still want to be with Rick.

Perry loves my brother in spite of his hookups. She's probably thinking he would change his ways once they had permanently mated. I hope she's right.

She notices me. "Daisy!" she says, "When did you come?"

"Just a few of days ago," I say as she gives me a hug. I look at Rick and at his hand that's still around the blonde girl's waist.

"How long are you staying?" Perry asks.

"Couple of weeks, probably."

"Then you should come to my birthday party. It's next week."

"Sure," I say.

She warmly smiles at me and then, with a brief glance at my brother, leaves the kitchen.

I stare at Rick.

"What?" Rick says.

I put the glass down in the sink and leave.

I think about following Perry. She's probably upset. Or maybe she's not. But I can't think about her alone, I also think about, Cole.

I kept glancing at him but he didn't look at me. His indifference to me surprised me.

Did he forget about me? But I guess it's only fair, since I also forgot about my mate till tonight.

The fact that we're mates is a secret between us, and the way he ignored me, it's like whatever happened between us in the past didn't happen at all.